The Madonna of Monteluce has returned to Perugia. Alessandro Polidori, director of the museum, said: “Participating in this project in both capacities makes me proud and happy.”

The Coronation of the Virgin, commissioned from Raphael and completed by his workshop, will be on display until January 7, 2026, in Perugia, inside Isola San Lorenzo – Museo del Capitolo della Cattedrale, in an exhibition entitled: “THE EXPECTED RETURN. Raphael to Monteluce from the Vatican Museum”.

The Church of Santa Maria Assunta has always been a religious landmark for the Monteluce neighborhood of Perugia. Upon entering, what immediately catches the eye is the painting above the high altar, which, with its imposing golden frame, dominates the nave. During services, it’s impossible not to admire it. It’s there, majestic, watching you and being watched. It’s a reproduction of the Coronation of the Virgin, created in 1831 by the Roman painter Giovanni Silvagni.

Il sopralluogo nella Chiesa di Monteluce. Alessandro Polidori, Luca Nulli, Francesca Persegati, Fabio Piacentini e Paolo Violini

The original, exhibited in the Vatican Pinacoteca in Rome, after two centuries—it left the church of Monteluce in 1797 following the Treaty of Tolentino and was taken to Paris—has returned to Perugia and can be admired until January 7, 2026, in the exhibition “THE EXPECTED RETURN. Raphael for Monteluce from the Vatican Museums” inside Isola San Lorenzo – Museo del Capitolo della Cattedrale. This was made possible thanks to a long and collaborative effort between the Archdiocese of Perugia-Città della Pieve and the Vatican Museums.
“Dialogue with Archbishop Ivan Maffeis led to the idea of offering the city a cultural offering linked to the Jubilee of Hope. The choice fell on the Coronation of the Virgin, which narrates Hope through the flower-filled tomb where Mary was buried. For me, this return has a double significance: not only as Director of the Diocesan Office for Cultural Heritage, but above all as a true Montelucian and a frequent and faithful member of the parish of Monteluce. It is a powerful fuel for working on an important, courageous, and ambitious project. For those who frequent the church, that work—or rather, its reproduction—has always been the focal point of every celebration. I have had it before my eyes since I was a child, and being able to participate in its return (even if temporary) makes me very proud and happy. In this regard, I would also like to remember Don Luciano Tinarelli—who passed away a few years ago—who, during his many years as leader of the religious community, organized trips to the Vatican Museums to take the faithful to admire the original, which was very meaningful to him. “He would be overjoyed with this return today,” says Alessandro Polidori, director of the museum.

A long story

The story of this painting begins in 1505 (precisely 500 years ago) when the Poor Clares of Santa Maria di Monteluce commissioned Raphael Sanzio to paint it, which was completed in 1525 by his students Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco Penni.
The Coronation of the Virgin—”the most remarkable panel in Perugia,” as local scholar Baldassarre Orsini wrote in 1784—left the church of Santa Maria Assunta in 1797 following the Treaty of Tolentino and was taken to Paris. After the Congress of Vienna, Antonio Canova was commissioned by Pope Pius VII to recover the assets that had been stolen from the Papal States and succeeded in bringing the panel back to Rome, where it became part of the Vatican Pinacoteca. In 1830, the nuns requested the return of “the noble painting belonging to them,” but due to the monastery’s precarious financial situation, they were unable to do so, so the work remained in the Vatican. For this reason, its return to Perugia has been an event long-awaited for two centuries.

The imposing panel—divided into two parts—had not been removed from its wall since 1984, when it was restored: “The current restorers at the Museum didn’t even know exactly how it was arranged on the back: it was an opportunity to re-examine it and implement some consolidation work on the wooden support. We’re talking about a very courageous and ambitious project, supported by the director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, and her team: moving such a complex work was by no means simple or obvious,” the director continues.

The exhibit

While the copy dominates the church, the original dominates the exhibition hall of Isola di San Lorenzo-Museo del Capitolo. As soon as you enter, your gaze is captivated by its grandeur and the light emanating from its vivid colors.
But it is not alone. It shares the room with two other works reunited for the first time: the predella with Stories from the Life of the Virgin Mary, by the Perugian painter Berto di Giovanni (on loan from the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria), and the 15th-century Crucifix by Giovanni Teutonico, still preserved today in the Poor Clare Monastery of Santa Maria di Monteluce in Sant’Erminio, where the nuns currently live after leaving the convent located next to the church. The former monastery later housed Perugia’s hospital for years; today it houses municipal offices.

The predella—originally commissioned from Raphael, but later created by Berto Di Giovanni—is divided into four scenes and depicts four key moments in Mary’s life: birth, presentation at the temple, marriage, and death. The predella and altarpiece have been reunited after 200 years. Until their separation, they formed a single decorative panel above the high altar of the church of Monteluce; they were framed by a large gilded frame, part of which is still visible today. The predella, unlike the canvas, was never reproduced; only the original exists, preserved in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria.

The exhibition, organized to mark the Jubilee Year dedicated to Hope, is divided into three sections and takes the form of a metaphorical journey that visitors can follow until they reach the large panel. Visitors are led to discover a work that straddles the boundaries between Raphael’s genius and the power of his workshop, between the cloister and the city, between art history and spirituality. In the Coronation of the Virgin, the Assumption and Coronation merge into a single moment imbued with glory, wonder, and hope. The iconography is narrated by the power of the chromatic palette: the golden light of the sky crowns the leaden blues of the cloudy glimpses of the landscape in the background and the variety of colors of the robes of the apostles who have come to contemplate the miracle on earth. The exhibition also seeks to explore part of the historical, artistic, and spiritual context of the Poor Clares of Monteluce monastery as a testimony to an unbroken faith and an inexhaustible hope, despite the complex history of the convent.

To visit the exhibition:
Daily: 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM / 2:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Schedule of guided tours:
Thursday at 9:00 PM
Friday at 5:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM

Ticket: https://isolasanlorenzo.it/latteso-ritorno/

To schedule your visit
For information and guided tours: info@isolasanlorenzo.it
For educational activities for schools, families, and parishes: edu@genesiagency.it